Who We Are

• One of Canada’s largest environmental NGOs
• Originated in 1962 from fish and wildlife conservation movement
• “To conserve and inspire the conservation of Canada’s wildlife and habitats for the use and enjoyment for all”
• Freshwater, marine, and terrestrial programs

CWF’s Approach to Conservation

1. Instill conservation ethic in Canadians
2. Engage Canadians in conservation actions
3. Fill gaps in our scientific understanding of species and threats
4. Carry out species and habitat conservation projects
5. Advocate for strong laws, policies, and programs to conserve wildlife and habitat

National Fish Passage Program

Increased freshwater focus on connectivity and fish passage:

• Chinook salmon research in Upper Yukon River
• American eel research and advocacy
• Fish passage advocacy and barrier campaigns
• Watershed Connectivity Remediation Planning framework and barrier remediation in BC and AB
• Development of the Canadian Aquatic Barriers Database (CABD)

What is the conservation issue?

What we know:

• Structures like dams, culverts, and dykes block the movement of fish (and other species) and energy/matter
• Barriers to connectivity are extensive across Canada
• Barriers removal needed to restore access to important habitat and ecosystem functions
• Restoration projects are expensive

What is the conservation issue?

What we don’t know:

• How many barriers exist in Canada?
• How much habitat is not accessible?
• How do we identify the most important barriers to maximize benefits?

We need comprehensive information to answer these questions

Canadian Aquatic Barriers Database (CABD)

Project Background

• CABD = central pillar of tools to support CWF’s fish passage program
• Identify and prioritize barriers for restoration
• Inspired The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) work in the northeastern U.S.

A Roadmap for Improving Connectivity

• TNC’s Northeast Aquatic Connectivity Assessment Project:
  • A database as a partnership building tool
  • Brings groups together and centralizes efforts
  • Led to significant improvements to fish passage and connectivity

Penobscot River Restoration (Maine)

• Partnership between government, Indigenous groups, NGOs, and industry
• Two dam removals and one fishway
• 2018: 2.8 million+ river herring returned

Importance of Collaboration and Engagement

• Potential uses of CABD extend beyond CWF’s needs
  • Freshwater connectivity research
  • Hydrological modelling
  • Infrastructure inventories
• CABD can improve collaboration and partnership
• Launched external engagement to get input on development

Stakeholder Engagement

• User interviews
  • What type of work could the CABD support?
  • What information would be useful?
  • How would users like to access the data?
• Working Group and Technical Advisory Committee

Data Gathering and Sharing

• CABD relies on existing repositories
  • Local in scale
  • Single barrier types
  • No standardization
• CWF provides national coordination without duplicating effort
• Establish reciprocal relationships
  • Share data back to providers

What will the CABD be used for?

1. Habitat status assessments and reporting (watershed → national scales)
2. Informing management and regulatory decisions
3. Restoration planning and prioritization
4. Research and monitoring
5. Education and public outreach

CABD Components

1. Hydrographic networks

2. Barrier data

3. Web map and tools

Hydrographic networks

• Canada does not have a clean and connected GIS layer representing streams, rivers, and lakes
• National Hydrography Network (NHN) has errors and issues

Hydrographic networks

• CABD requires clean networks to relate barriers each other and to habitat gains
• CWF leading development of tools to update the NHN → building on work done by NRCan - Common Hydrology Features (CHyF)

CHyF v2

• Open-source tools
• Leverages graph theory and web services for improved analytical performance (upstream and downstream traces)
• CWF continuing development:
  • Processing all of Canada
  • Additional attributes (e.g., stream order, flowpath types)
  • Will be available for download or via vector tile service
• Collaboration with NRCan → our work will be shared to improve the quality of the NHN

Barrier Data

• Standardized data structure through engagement
• Current barrier types:
  • Dams (includes some weirs and dykes for now)
  • Waterfalls
  • Fishways (inherited CANFISHPASS from the Cooke lab at Carleton University)
• Future years:
  • Stream crossings (road, rail, trail)
  • Lateral barriers (dykes/levees, embankments, etc.)
  • Others?

 

Barrier Data Processing

Five main steps:

1. Data source compilation
2. De-duplication
3. Spatial attribute mapping
4. Geolocation (including snapping to hydro network)
5. Non-spatial information collection

Attribute mapping

1. Aggregate attributes from existing spatial sources
2. Identification of non-spatial data sources (search engines)

CABD (version 1)

• November 2021: public “sneak peek” release in pilot regions
• December 2021: Alberta release
• February 2022: Atlantic Canada release (NB, NL, NS, PEI)
• March 2022: British Columbia release
• Release remaining data on monthly basis through summer 2022
• Add additional barrier types in future years (e.g., stream crossings)

Expected Results

Dams Waterfalls Fishways

30,000+ 10,000+ 400+

Demo!

Next Steps

• Continue information gathering
  • Phase 1: Compile existing datasets (including stream-crossings)
  • Phase 2: Begin to fill data gaps (with input from citizen scientists!)
• Expand features in the web tool
• Develop documentation site (tutorials, metadata, etc.)
• Develop additional tools

Additional Tools

Standardized barrier assessment protocols

• Extensive review and synthesis - existing protocols
• Modular approach to maintain flexibility, e.g., NAACC protocols
• Series of regional workshops in spring/summer 2022

Additional Tools

Develop or adapt citizen science apps

• Partner and public participation to identify and assess barriers:
  1. Information entry portal - allow direct additions to CABD
  2. Mobile app - public can identify and assess barriers
• Collaboration opportunities with existing apps
  • AMBER (Europe)
  • Alberta Watercourse Crossing Inventory app

Additional Tools

• Research partnerships
  • Validating functional connectivity indicators
  • Remote sensing/modelling tools (identify barriers, estimate passability)
• Freshwater connectivity toolbox
  • Resources, best practices, success stories

Watershed Connectivity Remediation Planning framework

• Collaborative framework to plan connectivity conservation and restoration - applied in BC and AB
• Adapted from Conservation Standards
• Not intended to be habitat/watershed restoration plan
  • Serves well as a module in such broader plans
• Guide document for connectivity planning in Canada

Watershed Connectivity Remediation Planning framework

• Key components:
  • Clear geographic and thematic scope
  • Focal (target) species or ecosystem features
  • Current connectivity status estimated for each target
  • SMART goals for gains in connectivity
  • Barrier prioritization to meet goals efficiently
  • Action plan with responsibilities identified and costs estimated

Watershed Connectivity Remediation Planning framework

- Guides process from desktop prioritization exercises to on-the-ground implementation